1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a background image display control system used in a chat system in which a management server performs a broadcast control of character information between computers connected to a predetermined channel in a network so that users of the user computers converse with each other. The background image display control system causes each of the respective user computers to display an image in a background of conversational characters based on received character information.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, the following system used in a chat system in which a user of a computer connected to a network converses with a user of another computer has been proposed. In the system, a program for displaying an background image is installed in each of the user computers, so that the background image is displayed on each of the user computers in a chat operation. According to such a system, a user of a computer in which the program for displaying the background image is installed can visually know the contents of the chat and visually enjoy the chat.
However, in the conventional system, the program for displaying the background image is individually installed in each of the user computers, so that the background image is not displayed in a user computer in which the program is not installed.
In addition, in a case where different programs are installed in the respective user computers, different background images are displayed in the respective user computers in the chat. Further, the conventional program does not causes each of the user computers to display a background image depending on states of the chat system and/or revealed contents of the chat.
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide a novel and useful background image display control system, used in a chat system, in which the disadvantages of the aforementioned prior art are eliminated.
A specific object of the present invention is to provide a background image display control system, used in a chat system, in which a unified background image suitable for the conversation can displayed in the background of characters in the respective user computers.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a background image display control system, applied to a chat system in which a server performs a broadcast communication control of character information between a plurality of user computers connected to a channel in a network, for causing each of the plurality of user computers to display an image in a background of chat character strings based on the character information, the background image display control system comprising: table storage means for storing a table indicating relationships between conditions based on states revealable in the chat system and background images; and display control means for causing each of the plurality of user computers to display a background image in the background of the chat character strings when a condition corresponding to a state revealed in the chat system corresponds to the background image in the table.
According to the present invention, the server performs the broadcast communication control of the character information between the plurality of user computers. As a result, chat character strings are displayed in each of the plurality of user computers. When a condition corresponding to a state revealed in the chat system is indicated in the table, a background image corresponding to the condition in the table is displayed in the background of the character strings in each of the plurality of user computers.
The state revealable in the chat system is a state which can be revealed in a chat between users using the chat system. The state may include a mode state of a channel, a state of topic in a channel, a number of participant (corresponding to a number of user computers) in a channel, a state of a time at which a chat is performed, a state of the contents of a chat, a state of a speaker (a specific speaker) in a chat, a state of the increase/decrease of the number of participants, a state of an amount of speech in a chat (an amount of character information in the broadcast communication) and a state of a keyword used in a chat.
To display a background image corresponding to one of a plurality of conditions when the plurality of conditions corresponding to a state revealed in the chat system are indicated in the table, the table include priority orders each of which corresponds to one of the conditions, and the background image control system may comprises condition selecting means for selecting a condition corresponding to a higher priority order in the table when a plurality of conditions corresponding to the state revealed in the chat system are indicated in the table, wherein the display control means causes each of the plurality of user computers to display a background image corresponding to the condition selected by the condition selecting means in the background of the chat character strings.
The background image display control system may be provided in each of the user computers, one of the user computers, the server, and another computer connected to the network. The functions of the background image display control system may be distributed among a plurality of computers connected to the network.
For easy maintenance of image data representing the background images, image data storage means for storing image data representing the background images may be provided in the server, so that the image data representing the background image is transmitted from the server to each of the plurality of user computers.
To decrease the load of the server, the image storage means may be provided in one of the plurality of user computers, so that the image data representing the background image is transmitted from the one of the plurality of user computers to other user computers.
In addition, the table storage means and the display control means may be provided in each of the plurality of user computers.